I'm soon going to be laid off and now wondering what I'm going to do with myself I was thinking of the idea of having complete single turbo kits made for both LT1 and LS1 engines. Turbos I'm thinking of using are T70, T76, GT40, GT42, something along those lines. All very powerfull and popular turbos, suggestions are welcome. Wastegate would probably be Tial 46mm or HKS 50mm. Headers (manifolds) would be 100% 304 stainless consisting of 16ga 1 3/4" or 1 5/8", 1/2" flanges, all mandrel bent (of course), and possibly polished. FMIC would be custom made by one of my friends who makes them for a living. It would most likely be Griffin core top-bottom, but I won't know until I see how much room I have to work with. All charge pipes would be made of aluminum. Anyways, do you guys think this could sell? It will be the best kit available from what I've seen. The price is pretty damn low when you consider the FMIC, a good turbo, all charge pipes, every single piece you need to make the kit run. Let me know what you think.

 

I would buy it definetely, (well if you did one for a 3rd gen) its cheaper than the other kits Ive seen.

 

Sounds like a good deal, but do you really think you can make a profit, enough to live on, with these kits. I know I bought most of my twin kit for just under $4000, and that was me doing all the work (minus the intercooler as you know) myself. Turbo, wastegate and BOV are going to eat up more than half your $4000, then throw an intercooler in there (maybe you can get a deal) but I know one made by yourself will run close to $400 for a core and then maybe $40 or so for some sheet aluminum. Now you half to add hosing, and you may be able to make it cheap with regular hydraulic fittings and all, but you can figure in at least $50 for hose, and then throw in all the silicone couplings.... All I'm getting at is there isn't much left for your profit, unless you can jig everything up and really make them quick, but that takes time as well, and time is money.

Don't get me wrong I'd like to do the same, but couldn't justify the time required, and the small pickings for profit, going to have to sell high volume, and could you accomplish that yourself without getting burned out?

 

I'm not trying to be an *** or anything, but Forced Inductions sells the gen 1 ptk kit with a MP T70 turbo for less than $4000. Granted that's not stainless construction.

 

Well, I'm actually going back to school. I won't make a fortune with these kits but I guess it's extra money in my pockets. I'm going for a welding program so this will also be good for learning and practice.

What I plan to do is buy a Camaro (running or not), and start building a kit for that. I'll end up setting up a group buy so making the same pieces over and over won't be too hard, that first piece (mock up) will consume the most time. I'll end up making a jig as well in case someone wants to buy a kit off the group buy. As far as making profit, I probably won't make much since this is going to be a very high quality kit, enough to keep me happy though

My kit will put ptk's to shame!! If you want me to build kits like the one they have, price would drop down to $2500. But I don't want to sell cheap kits. I want people to buy something that they can use for goals from 600-1000rwhp. Ptk's gen 2 kits sell for $5300 w/ IC in stainless. Mine will be of higher quality, $1300 cheaper, and most likely have a better turbo.

 

go ahead, build it, i wouldnt mind having a few people to choose from when I finally decide to go FI. If your kit is better than the PTK and lower cost, of course I'd buy yours.

 

uh..........so a guy still going to welding school is going to make a kit that puts to shame the guys who build setups for some of the fastest drag cars in the country?


what exactly is wrong with the PTK kit that you are going to improve so much?

 

Well, competition makes everyone more competitive, so I would initially say go for it. But is it really worth it? I've contemplated the same thing you are about 6 months ago and the biggest problem I saw was the variations from car to car. One guy wants to keep A/C, the other has no problem losing A/C or even power steering. Then, take into account that there are always differences from car to car. I'd definitely consider leaving plenty of room for error in your clearances between turbo piping and such and the body and chassis of the car. I just couldn't deal with some guy crying because his downpipe barely nicks the knuckle on his steering rack and runs to every message board saying "These guys suck and they're a bunch of hacks." I'd want to have the car on-site and available for test fitting, or at least a disclaimer that minor modifications may need to be made in some cases. It's kinda like guys who building chassis & suspension pieces. Not everything fits perfect the first time.

As for the price, I think it could be done for $4K if you've got some good connections. The turbo doesn't necessarily have to be a PT or Innovative or namebrand Garrett to be good. The one thing I'd strongly consider for the kit would be a tubular k-member. I've got tons more room in my car w/ it compared to stock. With all the tubing for the twins on my car, I still managed to change the plugs in about 15 minutes this week.
Oh, and a 3rd gen kit would be really easy to make since there's quite a bit more room under the hood than a 4th gen.

 

Going to welding school to become a certified welder, can't certify myself you know I've been welding for a couple years now and was taught by one of my friends who does show quality work. I was also responding to 97WS6SCharged about his commment of PTK's gen1, not gen2. And if you look at there gen1, it doesn't look like they spent too much time developing it. PTK do build some of the fastest cars, but we're getting off topic I think. We're talking about a $4000 turbo kit, not setting world records here

What am I going to improve from ptk's gen1? Just look at there gen2 kits. There's enough improvement there that it speaks for itself

I've gotten some emails about this so I think it just might happen.

mongse_1, I hear what you're saying about people needing different options. I'm going to see there's enough room to fit a turbo right in front of the harmonic balancer or anywhere in front of the engine. This way people will still be able to keep all there accessories. I know an LS1 that I'll be building a turbo kit for has enough room in the front. Seeing as how the LT1's are shorter, I don't think it will be much of a problem. Worse case is people will have to lose there AC

 

you typed a whole lot, but didnt answer this question.

itemize the specific aspects that you are going to make these huge improvements on

 

I thought it spoke for itself but I guess not

stainless headers, ptk uses mild unless you want to pay extra for stainless
BOV, mine will include a real one
Intercooler, a custom fabricated FMIC will be included
Aluminum charge pipes
bigger wastegate
1/2" thick flanges
V-band header connections (saves alot of installation/reinstallation time)
nicer looking finish, aluminum and stainless always look better than mild
capable of more power (bigger turbo, FMIC, bov)

Basically, what I'm offering is alot more for your money

I want to see if there's any interest before going out and buying a camaro just for mock up purposes. So if any of you guys think you'd be interested, let me know. If you feel it is probably not going to sell, also let me know.

 

Well, what I got from his response was:

His kit will be much better than the stage 1 kit. Sounds like it will be about the same quality as the 2 kit but for $1300 less. Maybe I just read wrong, but that's what I got out of it.

Obviously, you will have to get a kit built and take tons of pics as people on here will want to see what the kit, welds, parts look like.

 

Ryan, that's exactly what I'm going for. The gen2 ptk kit is pretty well made from the pics I've seen. The only things I can improve on that are price, appearance, and maybe hp potential

You'll get the gen2 quality at less than the gen1 price with better parts

 

I'm guessing that you haven't seen any of his work on his single or twin LT1 kit he already built either from links here or from the DIY section of turbomustang.com? Looked pretty damn good to me. Certified or not I would be proud to put anything he made on my car, that is if I didn't do it myself

 

IMHO, you wouldn't have any profit at $4,000



Turbo- 1,400
BOV- 200
Wastegate- 200
Intercooler- 650
stainless header tubing (8 U bends) 200
crossover/downpipe tubing 100
stainless collectors 70
flanges/v-bands 150
aluminum induction tubing 350
silicone couplers/transitions 100
t-bolt clamps 30
air filter 30
A/N oil feed and drain hoses/fittings 100
shipping for above items 50

Parts total- $3,600